In 2011, Fox released a new comedy: New Girl. The show is about a quirky teacher (Zooey Deschanel) who moves to Los Angeles to be closer to her life-long best friend Cece (Hannah Simone) and ends up rooming with three men—Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Winston (Lamorne Morris) and depending on the season, Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.). Critics were uncertain about the show’s longevity as Deschanel at that point had mostly played quirky side characters, but she proved to bring a refreshing light to the “friends-in-their-thirties-living-together” dynamic that we have seen so many times.
Season six was the last season we were graced with, which ended in April of 2017. For a while, when trying to figure out if the show would be returning for another season, fans of New Girl were met with radio silence. It wasn’t until later in the year that officials confirmed the show had been renewed for its final season.
Courtesy: The Bit Bag
This season will be quite a bit different, however. The show will run from April 10 (this Tuesday!) to May 15. While the previous seasons have been roughly the same length—22 episodes, give or take—this season will be significantly shorter at only eight episodes. If you’ve done your math, you’re now scratching your head in confusion. April 10 to May 15 is only six weeks, right? That’s right. Some episodes will be airing back to back.
Not only is the length different, but the characters are in entirely different places. Season seven will be taking place three years after the end of season six. According to Deadline, “Season 7 [will] feature major milestones for all main characters over the period of one year, including a big one in the series finale.” This is unsurprising, given that season six ended with (MAJOR SPOILERS) Jess and Nick finally getting back together, now-married Cece and Schmidt becoming expectant parents and Winston not only getting engaged to Ally but finally contacting his estranged father (END OF SPOILERS), but what these new milestones will be can only be speculated at this point. The audience can expect returns from old favorites, such as Coach, but their involvement is still unclear.
I’m glad to see New Girl is back and changing things up. It’s always interesting when a show does something the audience wasn’t quite expecting. While the format is the same, so many aspects of the show have changed. I’ve always enjoyed New Girl; since it first aired, I felt that I related to Jess far more than I did to many of the women we see on sitcoms, but I’m not really sad about the show ending. If I’m being totally honest, the last season of New Girl was a bit messy. It wasn’t awful—there are definitely worse things on television—but it certainly wasn’t the strongest of the six. While it’s always a bummer to see a show I enjoy go, as John Krasinski said about The Office ending, “we deserve to leave rather than being asked to leave.” I would definitely rather see a great show end well, than what was once a great show end badly.
Make sure to check New Girl out on April 10 at 9:30 p.m. to watch the beginning of the end of this iconic show!
Courtesy: Twitter